Blogging The Casbah: Iraq the unraveling?

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Iraq the unraveling?

Perhaps it's because they're so many other pressing issues in the news right now, but Iraq has crept its way back into the spotlight. Ever since that al-Baghdadi guy (leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq) was captured, many expected to see violence levels drop. Yet, quite the opposite has happened.

Over the past month, we have seen a lot of suicide attacks in the Shia areas--some even neighborhoods that are controlled by the Saddarists. However, today's attack has been targeted at a Sunni community in Baghdad, once controlled by al-Qaeda.

Iraq the unraveling? Only time will tell. But if you had to force optimism on the situation, al-Qaeda gives purpose to the Sons of Iraq program. This means that the Shia-led government of Maliki can continue to put-off integrating these guys while they continue to "take care of radical Sunni elements" (AKA al-Qaeda in Iraq).

But fear not my people, the

2 comments:

The Rooster said...

Well, looks like the Iraqis seem to have another idea since the deadline was not extended. But apparently we are keeping a few bases loaded with american humvees and soldiers to boot.

The Rooster said...

Check out this front page NYTIMES article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/world/middleeast/08security.html?_r=1&hp